Click Here for Discussion Forum TBP Banner Editing/Proofreading/Writing/Research Services Available.



CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO
Home Forum Sections
Current EventsThe ArtsSocial SciencesScience & Tech
Essay Sections
Politics/IdeologyReligion/PhilosophyTopical/CommentaryCulture
Contact





NEWS/COMMENTARY JOURNAL

Rape victim receives 101 lashes for becoming pregnant
Dean Nelson | The London Daily Telegraph | Jan. 25, 2010
The girl's father was also fined and warned the family would be branded outcasts from their village if he did not pay.
According to human rights activists, the girl, who was quickly married after the attack, was divorced weeks later after medical tests revealed she was pregnant.
Her rapist was pardoned by the elders. She told the newspaper the rapist had "spoiled" her life.
Reconsidering the Suez Campaign
Caroline Glick | The Jerusalem Post | Dec. 18, 2009
...Western failure to stop Iran will convince the Persian Gulf states that they cannot trust Western security guarantees and are best served by developing their own nuclear arsenals. All semblance of a nuclear nonproliferation regime will be cast to the seven winds...
...a significant constituency in Europe believes the time has come to act militarily against Iran's nuclear installations. Second it tells us that influential voices in France have lost patience with Obama. Sarkozy himself all but accused Obama of living in Fantasy Land at the UN Security Council meeting four months ago, in light of Obama's support for global nuclear disarmament and his cavalier attitude towards Iran's nuclear program.
Diary that helped expose Stalin's famine displayed
Raphael G. Satter | Breitbart | Nov. 13, 2009
...As starvation and cannibalism spread across Ukraine, Soviet authorities exported more than a million tons of grain to the West, using the money to build factories and arm its military....
...Stalin's totalitarian regime tightly controlled the flow of information out of the U.S.S.R., and many Moscow-based foreign correspondents—some of whom had pro-Soviet sympathies—refused to believe Jones' reporting. The New York Times' Walter Duranty, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, dismissed Jones' article as a scare story.
Freedom of the press ought to belong to all... not just to approved 'journalists'
Robert Niles | The Online Journalism Review | Oct. 16, 2009
The FTC this month published new regulations on the disclosure of advertiser-sponsored messages which could force bloggers and other independent publisher to publicly disclose every book, CD or sporting event admission that they receive in the course of their work, or face thousands of dollars in fines. Yet the FTC explicitly exempted offline, established media publishers from the new regulations.
The Internet has fulfills the Founders' promise of a free press to the people. No longer is "freedom of the press" limited to an elite few, as was the case in Mencken's day. People who have devoted their careers to reporting and publishing news should welcome this functional expansion of the First Amendment, providing us millions of new potential allies, engaged in our communities. A handful of clueless bureaucrats in the FTC should not be empowered to stand in their way.
All-Important Relationships
Greg Garrison | The Washington Post | Sep. 18, 2009
..."Religion is, I think, one of the biggest hindrances to finding God," Lotz said. "God described Abraham as a friend. . . . I want to know God in a relationship that one day he will describe as a friendship. God loves you and wants to know you. He's calling you to a personal relationship..."
"...You can't develop it through a pastor or spouse. You have to develop it firsthand," she said. "Within the church, I feel people are just rocking along and afraid to say what they experience isn't satisfying. . . . There are a lot of believers in exile. They've been so hurt by God's people, they don't go to church. They run away from God's people, and they throw God out."
UNESCO Sex-Ed Program...[for] Kids
Windsor Genova | All Headline News | Aug. 27, 2009
...The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is recommending the voluntary teaching of sexuality education, including masturbation and aphrodisiacs, starting at age five to prevent HIV and sexually transmitted diseases.
...children are divided into age groups and each group will have corresponding sexuality education topics. Kids age 5 to 8 will be taught what masturbation is while those age 9 to 12 will learn the positive and negative effects of aphrodisiacs.
At age 12 to 15, children will learn abortion and its safety. Those age 15 to 18 will be taught on advocating the right to and access to safe abortion.
Sometimes it isn't racism
Mark Steyn | The Washington Times | Jul. 27, 2009
...The president of the United States may be reluctant to condemn Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez or that guy in Honduras without examining all the nuances and footnotes, but sometimes there are outrages so heinous that even the famously nuanced must step up to the plate and speak truth to power. And thank goodness the leader of the Free World had the guts to stand up and speak truth to Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley...
...A black president, a black governor and a black mayor all agree with a black Harvard professor that he was racially profiled by a white-Latino-black police team headed by a cop who teaches courses in how to avoid racial profiling.
CanadaCare sends baby to US for treatment
Ed Morrissey | HotAir.com | Jun. 29, 2009
...why wasn’t there a NICU bed for the child in the entire nation of Canada? The government of Canada won’t pay for more. They don’t exist to expand supply to meet demand; their single-payer system exists to ration care as a cost-saving mechanism. In a free-market system, supply expands to meet demand, which is why Canada could subcontract out to a US hospital for capacity.
Eurabia Has A Capital: Rotterdam
Sandro Magister | Chiesa Press | May 19, 2009
...Holland is an extraordinary test case. It is the country in which individual license is the most extensive – to the point of permitting euthanasia on children – in which the Christian identity is most faded, in which the Moslem presence is growing most boldly...
Here, entire neighborhoods look as if they have been lifted from the Middle East, here stand the largest mosques in Europe, here parts of sharia law are applied in the courts and theaters, here many of the women go around veiled, here the mayor is a Muslim, the son of an imam.
The last thing this country needs is a pirate raid on the wealth creators
Andrew Lloyd Webber | The Daily Mail | Apr. 26, 2009
...The proposed top rate of income tax is not 50 per cent. It is 50 per cent plus 1.5 per cent national insurance paid by employees plus 13.3 per cent paid by employers. That's not 50 per cent. Two years from now, Britain will have the highest tax rate on earned income of any developed country. I write this article because I fear the inevitable exodus of the talent that can dig us out of the hole we find ourselves in. It is inevitable, given that other countries are bidding for entrepreneurs....
Study: Wages rose after immigration raids
Staff | The Wall Street Journal | Mar. 19, 2009
...Noting that the plants raided were back in production within five months, Jerry Kammer of the Center for Immigration Studies said there was "good evidence" that the number of U.S.-born workers increased, concluding that the plants "could operate without the presence of illegal workers," The Hill reported...
...The study estimated about 23 percent of the plants' employees weren't authorized to work in the United States, the Washington publication said.
Iran threatened with economic meltdown
James Melik | BBC World News | Feb. 27, 2009
...Cash rolled in when the price of oil was above $140 a barrel and the country amassed huge foreign currency reserves, but with the price falling to around $40, that revenue has dried up accordingly. For the first time since the Islamic revolution in 1979, Iranians will turn away from geopolitics and focus instead on the state of their economy when they go to the polls in June. ...
SWAT team searches gun-rights supporters
Steven Greenhut| The Orange County Register | Jan. 13, 2009
At the board meeting today, Orange County deputies searched gun-rights supporters, especially those wearing CCW buttons, according to those who attended the meeting. Although Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said she would let the permits expire rather than revoke them, her real disdain for freedom is shown by the presence of the SWAT team and the heavyhanded searches of law-abiding residents who wanted to attend the board meeting. Did the sheriff really think that gun supporters are somehow dangerous. I’ve been to gun shows and gun events and have never felt safer.
Bankruptcy Doesn't Equal Death
Donald Boudreaux | The Wall Street Journal | Dec. 11, 2008
...A government bailout of the Big Three keeps huge amounts of productive inputs in firms that can't use them efficiently. Forcing taxpayers to subsidize the continued employment of gargantuan quantities of raw materials, labor and capital goods in unproductive pursuits is a recipe for economic stagnation. The popular and politically convenient myth has matters backwards: The bigger the unprofitable firm, the more vital it is that it be allowed to fail...
If Democracy Doesn't Work, Try Anarchy
Chuck Norris | WorldNet Daily | Nov. 17, 2008
Political protests are one thing, but when old-fashioned bullying techniques that prompt fear of safety are used, activists have crossed a line. There is a difference between respectful dissent and advocacy for one's civil rights and demanding public endorsement of what many still consider "unnatural sexual behavior" through hate language and fear tactics. One thing is for sure: The days of peaceful marches like those headed up by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. seem to be long gone.
Leave the Land So We Won't Rape You
Nagla Al-Imam | Al-Arabiya TV | Oct. 31, 2008
...if [Arab women] are fair game for Arab men, there is nothing wrong with Israeli women being fair game as well.
...In my view, the [Israeli women] do not have any right to respond. The resistance fighters would not initiate such a thing, because their moral values are much loftier than that. However if such a thing did happen to them, the [Israeli women] have no right to make any demands, because this would put us on equal terms – leave the land so we won't rape you. These two things are equal.
US helicopters fired on while crossing Pakistani border
Bill Roggio | The Long War Journal| Sept. 15, 2008
A US military incursion into the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of South Waziristan was aborted after Pakistani troops opened fire on the force, reports from Pakistan indicate.
At least two American helicopters were fired on after crossing the Pakistani frontier near Angoor Adda in South Waziristan, Geo TV reported. "The U.S. choppers came into Pakistan by just 100 to 150 meters at Angor Adda. Even then our troops did not spare them, opened fire on them and they turned away,"
ABC Reporter Arrested in Denver Taking Pictures of Senators, Big Donors
Brian Ross | ABC News | Aug. 27, 2008
Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic Senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel. Police on the scene refused to tell ABC lawyers the charges against the producer, Asa Eslocker, who works with the ABC News investigative unit. A cigar-smoking Denver police sergeant, accompanied by a team of five other officers, first put his hands on Eslocker's neck, then twisted the producers arm behind him to put on handcuffs.
The “Fairness” Doctrine: America In The Balance
Chris Adamo | Men's News Daily | Jul. 23, 2008
...For any concept of “fairness” to be substantiated, some individual or cabal must hold sufficient power to arbitrate over which speech is deemed “fair” and permissible, and which speech is not. And those on the political left would gladly assume such control over the rest of society with no intention of ever letting it go.
Revising HIV's History
Elizabeth Pennisi | Science Now | Jun. 28, 2008
Researchers had assumed that because most monkey species infected with SIV don't get sick, the virus has been coevolving with the primates for millions of years, allowing the host and pathogen to peaceably coexist. If that were the case, the branching of the monkey family tree should match the branching of the SIV tree. But last year, University of Arizona, Tucson, graduate student Joel Wertheim, his adviser, Michael Worobey, and colleagues found that not to be the case for the African green monkey and its SIV. "The work suggested that the virus was not millions of years old..."

...HIV-1 first entered humans about 1908, not 1931, as earlier analyses with just the 1959 sample found. Her analysis also indicates that the virus existed in low levels in humans until the middle of the 20th century. "That matches the rise of population centers," Gemmel explained, suggesting that urbanization around that time paved the way for the AIDS epidemic...
4 Advances that Set News Back
Steve Boriss | The Future of News | May 14, 2008
Jefferson’s vision for news called for a multitude of voices, competing in a freewheeling marketplace of ideas. By the end of his life in 1826, he had watched news make steady progress toward this vision. French historian Alexis de Tocqueville, in his book Democracy in America of that time, marveled at the ability of individual newspapers to attract and organize like-minded citizens into “Associations,” each representing a different voice.
But, soon after his death, Jefferson’s vision for news not only stalled, it reversed itself, and continued in the opposite direction through most of the 20th century. Ironically, each of the 4 primary causes of this reversal, outlined below, held promise to be a great advance toward his vision.
Government Media Blitz to Attract Illegals Unveiled
Staff | American Conservative Union | Apr. 11, 2008
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom recently said, "We're inviting people to come out of the shadows and take advantage of services."
Newsom could have said -- just as easily -- that he's inviting people to come out of the shadows and take advantage of the taxpayers!
Believe it or not, the City of San Francisco just launched a $83,000 public relations campaign that will actively encourage waves of illegal aliens to sneak across the border.
The Koran and Mein Kampf
Andrew Bostom | andrewbostom.org | Mar. 4, 2008
It is still possible, even today, for Muslims to view the Koran, which they regard as valid for all time, as a licence to kill. And that is exactly what happens. The Koran is worded in such a way that its instructions are addressed to Muslims for eternity, which includes today’s Muslims.
Snatching Defeat Away From Victory
Charles Krauthammer | Townhall | Feb. 22, 2008
...there is simply no denying the remarkable improvements in Iraq since the surge began a year ago.
Unless you're a Democrat. As Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., put it, "Democrats have remained emotionally invested in a narrative of defeat and retreat in Iraq."
Witnesses: Cartel boss smuggled from the shadows
Staff | The Brownsville Herald | Jan. 15, 2008
The man federal authorities have identified as the Gulf Cartel’s second-in-command of Reynosa operations led a double life, they said — working officially to fight crime in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas while actively committing it on the side.
Doubts over paternity of Jamie Lynn Spears' baby
Staff | Sydney Herald Sun | Dec. 26, 2007
It has been alleged the 16-year-old actress - who announced she is expecting her first child with long-term boyfriend Aldridge earlier this month - was having an affair with an older man on the set of her Nickelodeon TV show Zoey 101.
The Spears family are allegedly desperate to keep the man's identity a secret, and have paid Aldridge to pretend to be the father instead.
Israel haven for new Bahai world order
Jennie Matthew | AFP | Nov. 18, 2007
Given that Israel has among the most insecure yet heavily-armed borders in the world in a region with no imminent prospect of disarmament, he acknowledges a "certain irony" over the location of the Bahai headquarters.
Parmar even sees Israel as a model for the Bahai world commonwealth.
"I love Israeli people for the fact that they are very united. Israel wouldn't be a possibility if the Jewish people weren't united. We're grateful to Israelis. We wouldn't be here without them," he said.
Doc, what’s up with snooping?
Michael Graham | The Boston Herald | Oct. 4, 2007
...They’re your kids, and they’re the National Security Agency of the Nanny State. I found this out after my 13-year-old daughter’s annual checkup. Her pediatrician grilled her about alcohol and drug abuse. Not my daughter’s boozing. Mine. “The doctor wanted to know how much you and mom drink, and if I think it’s too much,” my daughter told us afterward, rolling her eyes in that exasperated 13-year-old way. “She asked if you two did drugs, or if there are drugs in the house.” “What!” I yelped. “Who told her about my stasher, I mean, ‘It’s an outrage!’” I turned to my wife. “You took her to the doctor. Why didn’t you say something?” She couldn’t, she told me, because she knew nothing about it. All these questions were asked in private, without my wife’s knowledge or consent...
Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places
Mark Steyn | The Orange County Register | Sep. 16, 2007
...We should beware anyone who seeks to explain 9/11 by using the words "each other": They posit a grubby equivalence between the perpetrator and the victim – that the "failure to understand" derives from the culpability of both parties. The 9/11 killers were treated very well in the United States: They were ushered into the country on the high-speed visa express program the State Department felt was appropriate for young Saudi males...

...when you raise a generation in the great wobbling blancmange of Deval Patrick-style cultural relativism – nothing is any better or any worse than anything else; if people are "mean and nasty" to us, it's only because we didn't sing enough Barney the Dinosaur songs at them – in such a world a certain percentage of its youth will have a great gaping hole where their sense of identity should be. And into that hole you can pour something fierce and primal and implacable...
The Fate of Camelot
Ernest W. Lefever | The Washington Times | Aug. 28, 2007
...JFK was shot by a frustrated communist, Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone. Everyone agrees that Dallas was a profound shock to the American people, and to millions abroad who underestimated the strength of American democracy or the resilience of its people...

...After Kennedy's death, "liberals recast their understanding of reform from an instrument of progress to an instrument for punishment." Jimmy Carter's "Punitive Liberalism" was at odds with "the forward-looking optimism" of JFK. Finally, in 1980 the conservatives led by Ronald Reagan seized "the mantle of optimism and progress that had been abandoned by the liberals..."
Using Avoidance Manoeuvres
Lorrie Goldstein | Toronto Sun | Jul. 26, 2007
...Incensed by calls from Toronto Mayor David Miller and Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant for a "handgun ban" in the wake of an outbreak of gun and gang violence last weekend, including the murder of an 11-year-old boy, Ron asked, "Are they dense? Are they stubborn? Do they have some kind of vested interest in not solving violent crime?" My answer is "no" to all three. I believe politicians propose simplistic solutions like "gun bans" because it's easier than telling people the truth -- that fighting gun crime is hard.

Calling for "banning handguns," particularly when you're asking a Conservative government in Ottawa to do it while you're a left-wing Toronto mayor or a Liberal provincial attorney general, is just an easy, partisan way to avoid responsibility and duck the issue. This is also true for politicians on the right, who talk only about passing tougher laws against gun crime...
Alarmist global warming claims melt under scientific scrutiny
James M. Taylor | Chicago Sun-Times | Jun. 30, 2007
...Many of the assertions Gore makes in his movie, ''An Inconvenient Truth,'' have been refuted by science, both before and after he made them. Gore can show sincerity in his plea for scientific honesty by publicly acknowledging where science has rebutted his claims...

For example, Gore claims that Himalayan glaciers are shrinking and global warming is to blame. Yet the September 2006 issue of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate reported, "Glaciers are growing in the Himalayan Mountains, confounding global warming alarmists who recently claimed the glaciers were shrinking and that global warming was to blame."
'Have sex, do drugs,' speaker tells students
Bob Unruh | WorldNet Daily | May 21, 2007
"Why I am going to take that position is because you are going to do it anyway," he continued. "I think as a psychologist and health educator, it is more important to educate you in a direction that you might actually stick to. So, I am going to stay mostly on with the sex side because that is the area I know more about. I want to encourage you to all have healthy, sexual behavior."

...WND also has reported on similar assemblies that have been used by schools to promote homosexuality, including one where parents were banned from the event, and a second where WND reported school officials ordered their 14-year-old freshman class into a "gay" indoctrination seminar after having them sign a confidentiality agreement promising not to tell their parents...
New evidence against Van Anraat
Goran Baba Ali and Sebastiaan Gottlieb | Radio Netherlands | Apr. 4, 2007
...In December last year, Frans van Anraat was sentenced to 15 years in jail. The court in The Hague found him guilty of supplying materials for chemical weapons to the Saddam Hussein regime in the 1980s. He was acquitted of complicity in genocide because he reportedly did not know that Saddam Hussein intended to use poison gas on the Iraqi population...

On 7 May 1990, Frans van Anraat wrote a letter to former dictator Saddam Hussein in which he requested Iraqi nationality. "Dear Mr President," he wrote, I first came to your country in 1977 and lived in Baghdad for three years. I have come to love your people and your country, which I now consider my second country. I am proud of what I did for this country." According to a letter from the Iraqi secret service to the head of the military industry dated 8 January 1992 (click here for translation), what Frans van Anraat did for Iraq was: "supply banned and difficult to obtain chemical substances, at great risk to himself. And at reasonable prices compared to earlier quotes from other companies."
Missing Link?
Staff Editorial | Investor's Business Daily | Mar. 15, 2007
...War critics argue that Saddam Hussein had little to do with terrorism, and nothing to do with al-Qaida. Since there was no Iraq-al-Qaida link, they say, the U.S. should never have invaded to get rid of Hussein, no matter how evil he was. But something interesting has come out of the interrogations of the lead al-Qaida suspects at Guantanamo.

In particular, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confirmed what was suspected all along: He was the driving force and chief planner behind 15 years of al-Qaida terrorism — nearly 30 attacks and plots in all. That includes 9/11, the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl and, much earlier, the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

If so, it further cements the evidence that Iraq was, at minimum, a willing partner of al-Qaida's in the decadelong burst of terrorism that culminated in 9/11...
Abusing Intelligence
Michael Tanji | The the Weekly Standard | Feb. 16, 2007
...Intelligence is a national security decision-making tool, not a ball to be taken out and kicked about when cheap political points need to be scored. Yet now that the Department of Defense Inspector General's Office has released its report on the intelligence-related activities of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans, that is exactly what is going on.

Leaks of secret intelligence documents are curious affairs. The general public rarely gets to see the full text of intelligence assessments because, as prolific as they can be, leakers gain no benefit from revealing the full picture. Doing so would reveal, as the recent key judgments of the national intelligence estimate on Iraq showed, that there is often a ray of light amongst all the doom and gloom....
Is Hollywood too timid for the war on terror?
Andrew Klavan | The Los Angeles Times | Jan. 26, 2007
...The outcome of our battle against the demographic, political and military upsurge of a hateful theology and its oppressive political vision will determine the fate of freedom in this century.

Television — more populist, hungrier for content and less dependent on foreign audiences — reflects this fact with shows such as "24" and "The Unit." But at the movies, all we're getting is home-front angst and the occasional "Syriana," in which "moderate" Islam is thwarted by evil American interests. But the notion that this war is about our moral failings is comfort fantasy, pure and simple. It soothes us with the false idea that, if we but mend ourselves, the scary people will leave us alone...
Airport Security and Racial Profiling
Walter E. Williams | Capitalism Magazine | Dec. 20, 2006
...It is clear, whether we like it or not, or want to say it or not, that there is a strong correlation between terrorist acts and being a Muslim, and being black and high rates of crime. That means if one is trying to deter terrorism and in some cases capture a criminal, he would expend greater investigatory resources on Muslims and blacks. A law-abiding Muslim who's given extra airport screening or a black who's stopped by the police is perfectly justified in being angry, but with whom should he be angry? I think a Muslim should be angry with those who've made terrorism and Muslim synonymous and blacks angry with those who've made blacks and crime synonymous. The latter is my response to the insulting sounds of car doors locking sometimes when I'm crossing a street in downtown Washington, D.C., or when taxi drivers pass me by...
Iran Offers to Share Experience and Achievements With Hamas
Julie Stahl | CNSNews.com | Oct 13, 2006
...Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal meets regularly with Ahmadinejad and has pledged his support to the Iranian leader in the event that Iran is attacked by the West.
...Ahmadinejad offered to transfer Iranian "experience and achievements" to Hamas. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Iran's elite commando unit, was responsible for training Hizballah in Lebanon...
[Palestinian Interior Minister Said] Sayam is quoted as saying that the victory of one Islamic state is the victory of all Muslims and they should take pride in the victory of Hizballah, Hamas and the "remarkable success of Iran in various domains."
Ted Turner: Give Muslim Extremists What They Want to Stop Terrorism
Brad Wilmouth | News Busters | Sept 30, 2006
..."you don't win people over by bombing them, you win them over by being friends with them," and soon recommended giving Muslim extremists what they want as a solution to terrorism. Turner, who in 2002 claimed that Israelis were guilty of "terrorism" against the Palestinians, on Friday's show advocated "being more even-handed in our dealing with the Palestinians and the Israelis," negotiating peace in the Middle East "so we can stop at some point furnishing military aid to Israel," and "pulling our military forces out of the Middle East." Turner labelled these moves as "things that they've asked of us" and "things that the Muslim extremists and a lot of other Muslims, too, would like to see us do..."
Media Blame Bush for Clinton Legacy
Roger Aronoff | Accuracy In Media | Aug 15, 2006
...Clinton bombed Iraq for several days in December of 1998 with no Congressional or United Nations approval...
...waged war against Serbia in violation of the War Powers Act, without the approval of Congress or the U.N., using NATO as an offensive rather than defensive force. That violated the NATO treaty. Today, because of the Clinton policy, a Muslim state is being constructed in the Serbian province of Kosovo...
...was snookered by the North Korean communists, after providing them with massive amounts of aid, while they cheated on their promise to abandon their nuclear weapons program...
...wasted eight years with the so-called Oslo process, during which Israel and the Palestinians were supposed to make peace, and he entertained Yasser Arafat repeatedly at the White House. In the end, Israel was under attack again and the region was ablaze in a second intifada. That is the situation that the Bush Administration inherited.
Looking for trouble, the thugs find it
Wesley Pruden | The Washington Times | July 14, 2006
...Daniel Ayalon, the Israeli ambassador to Washington, offered a warning to Iran in blunt, forceful language yesterday at a session with reporters at the National Press Club: "They are playing with fire, and will bear the consequences" [if kidnapped soldiers end up in Iran or Syria].This is not the usual diplo-speak, but a warning in language that thugs and primitives better understand...

...Most of the rest of the world is, as usual, either trying to make Israel the villain, or trying to sleep. The United Nations Security Council, ever on the scout for ways to equivocate in the face of moral challenge, would have adopted a resolution condemning Israel yesterday but for a veto by the United States. Four other nations, displaying the irresolution that is the courage of cowards, abstained. Israel's neighbors, who have the most to lose if the radicalized "religion of peace" prevails in the Middle East, displayed their usual manliness...
The Real Iraq
Amir Taheri | Commentary | Jun. 6, 2006
...there are those in the media and the think tanks who wish the Iraq enterprise to end in tragedy, as a just comeuppance for George W. Bush. Others, prompted by noble sentiment, so abhor the idea of war that they would banish it from human discourse before admitting that, in some circumstances, military power can be used in support of a good cause...

...a vast network of independent media has emerged in Iraq, including over 100 privately-owned newspapers and magazines and more than two dozen radio and television stations. To anyone familiar with the state of the media in the Arab world, it is a truism that Iraq today is the place where freedom of expression is most effectively exercised...
US Concerned About China's Military Buildup
Al Pessin | VOA News | May 23, 2006
...Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Rodman says China appears to be preparing to project its military power beyond its immediate surroundings. "There are indications that they are thinking more broadly and at the very beginnings, perhaps, of developing power projection for other contingencies other than Taiwan," he said.

The report says such contingencies could involve conflicts over territory or resources. Last year's report on China came to a similar conclusion. But this year, the report adds that U.S. analysts have been 'surprised' by 'the pace and scope' of the modernization of China's strategic forces. And Rodman says Chinese officials are also discussing possible revisions in their defense doctrines, including their pledge not to be the first to use nuclear weapons in any conflict.
Darfur a Quagmire to Avoid
Peter Wortihington | Toronto Sun | May 9, 2006
...Although related to the Mahdi of the siege of Gen. Charles "Chinese" Gordon in 1884, Prime Minister Mahdi seemed moderate and unhappy about the imposition of sharia law (amputations, public floggings and stoning deaths for crimes) that provoked the rebellion in the south. No international objections were forthcoming.

...It's foolhardy to send troops there. Waste money, if you like, by supplying equipment for African peacekeepers but don't involve our troops. Sudan is a quagmire best left for African interlopers to solve. Either that or declare war on the Khartoum government and back the rebels of the south.
Protests Provide Boost to Democrats
Charles Hurt | The Washington Times | Apr 11, 2006
... "They say you should report to deport," Mr. Kennedy said of conservatives and a growing number of union-backed liberals who oppose granting citizenship to illegals. "I say report to become American citizens." These rallies also have turned into Democratic recruitment centers for reaching new voters...

...Yesterday, Mr. Tancredo said the protests reveal how powerful illegal aliens have become in the U.S."Today's rallies show how entrenched the illegal alien lobby has become over the last several years," he said. "The iron triangle of illegal employers, foreign governments and groups like La Raza puts tremendous pressure on our elected officials to violate the desires of law-abiding Americans and to grant amnesty..."
Lessons from Viet Nam: Don't Cut and Run!
Michael W. Cotter | American Diplomacy | Mar 20, 2006
...Although Vietnam and Iraq are different wars, in different times and being fought for different reasons, there are parallels between them. Whatever one's views of how and why we fought and are fighting them, the manner of our departure from Vietnam and the scars it left both on Americans who served there and the Vietnamese should provide a stern warning as we try to disengage in Iraq. Whether the war in Iraq is "winnable," whatever that word means, the Vietnam experience should tell us that a precipitate withdrawal is almost certain to have very serious consequences....
Don't mention Africa
Evelyn Gordon | The Jerusalem Post | Mar 8, 2006
...UNHCR instituted the cut because feeding 72,000 refugees 2,207 calories a day for one year costs $8.5 million - but as of January 1, the agency had yet to receive a penny in donations for 2006. Not knowing when more money might be forthcoming, it was trying to make leftover supplies from 2005 last as long as possible. In mid-February, the United States, Britain and Germany finally pledged a collective $2.3m., but it is not known when that money will arrive - or where the other $6.2m. will be found.

YET WEALTHY countries are clearly not short of disposable cash: Just three days after the Times report appeared, the European Union managed to scrounge up 120 million euros (about $143m.) in emergency aid for a more deserving cause: the Palestinian Authority...
BLOG 'DISCUSSION'

Nature will not be thwarted
We can, through our promiscuous behavior, bio-engineer microorganisms to overcome our medical technology. If we Westerners select ourselves for extinction as we treat pregnancy as a sexually transmitted disease, we will be replaced by those who do not value our culture and freedoms.

Shrinking Unemployment Funds
Another option for governments is to remove obstacles for private sector job growth so paying out unemployment will be unnecessary. Some suggestions: eliminate all taxes on savings, income and investment, switching them to consumption. Audit for removal all regulations that increase the costs of employing people w/o bringing any benefit. Stop illegal immigration. etc. etc. etc.

Criminalizing Terrorism
They have been waterboarded and held w/o charges for years. They have not been Mirandized and have been interrogated extensively. Much of the evidence against them is classified. I have no legal training and could likely get them off just by winging it. Many slick lawyers are going to be clamoring for a chance to represent them so they can make names for themselves or enhance their reputations.

Sanger and Eugenics
...an oft-glossed over fact is that Planned Parenthood Founder Margaret Sanger was an Eugenicist who considered abortion as a means of weeding out “defectives” and “undesirables” — such as blacks.
But now what Planned Parenthood is doing now is weeding out ALL native-born Americans, thus making it so we need to rely upon illegal immigration to replace our own babies we are killing.

Market Goes Up, Jobs Go Down
The Obama administration continues to preach that the cause of all of our problems is that the gov’t is not big enough, we keep too much of our own earnings and that there is too much economic freedom.
He and his minions are certainly doing everything they can to address those issues. The prescription will be more of the poison that got us here in the first place. The results will be all too predictable.

PC Costs Lives
Bending over backward to not offend Muslims for the fact that they are over-represented when it comes to religious-motivated mass-killing has cost lives.
It is they who need to own to the fact that "Allahu Akbar" would likely cause more panic if shouted in a crowded theater than yelling "fire" -- and for good reason.

Wrong Target
The United States has indirectly subsidized the European welfare state by taking up the lion's share of military risk and expense. Now we have an administration that wants to bring a Europeanized welfare state and a similarly European emasculated military capacity when we are facing enemies more dangerous than the NAZIs and the Soviets combined. Instead, they see Fox News as the most dangerous threat...

Installing Paradise
Their system is based upon feelings and they hold that certain Philosopher Kings are imbued with a mystical ability to read the tea leaves of history and thus read where mankind should “progress.” They call themselves Progressives, believe that their agenda is in tune with our destiny. Those who oppose them are called reactionaries, because by definition, they aim to thwart our destiny of a hard-left Utopia.
They feel that if everyone believed in what they did, their unworkable ideas would work. Those who do not are the cause of their policies not working, so they must be silenced, converted, marginalized or destroyed.

Smother or Empower Tamils?
...Colombo needs to take this as an opportunity to foster a loyal, non-violent opposition amongst the Tamils rather than a chance to smother them once and for all. That will only create an environment for a new violent opposition.
Read those statements by the Tamils in that article to get a sense that ordinary citizens amongst them feel despair that violence has been taken away from them as an option for redressing their grievances. The Sinhalese government must earn the Tamils' trust in tangible ways. It has to be made clear to the Tamils that they stand a much better chance of being treated fairly via non-violent means.

Home-Schooling Fought in Court
...Such cesspools of mediocrity are not conducive to learning.
And that is the entire point of the likes of this judge. He wants our children to be institutionalized with government-approved education that as each year passes is less about learning and more about indoctrination.
Thus we are that much closer to Orwellian utopia.

Multiculturalism Trumps All
...for the Left, multiculturalism trumps even their own values. They will sacrifice all to ‘respect’ another culture — no matter how toxic — even if its spread means the apocalyptic end to everything they stand for.
That is why you didn’t hear a peep out of the feminists when the Taliban was shooting women in soccer stadiums and why you won’t see them say anything about women being stoned to death for fornication when they are raped.

Fairness Doctrine Enforcement
Sure, let’s fight its being passed, but if it is, let Accuracy In Media, the Media Research Center and others use the Fairness Doctrine to bring litigation against the liberal media.
Armed with overwhelming data that clearly demonstrates leftist bias in the press, they will put that very bias on trial in open Court. Imagine the litany of witness who would be summoned.

Creationism vs. Evolution
If parents want to have their children taught one or the other as science, they should have that option and then see how the marketplace will value such different education standards.
Those of us who disparage creationism being taught as science should also bear in mind that there are forms of secular humanism [e.g marxist social/economic theory] — that are no less based upon faith — that are foisted upon many more children w/o parental review.
Those of us who don’t want creationism or humanism taught to our children should have that option. A government monopoly cannot possibly create a vanilla curriculum that will satisfy everyone.

Too Much Freedom?
Only government can make a problem like this spread throughout the financial system; not a few greedy robber barons being allowed too much economic freedom as our erstwhile public servants charged with watching them are being constrained by corporate lackeys in the Republican Party.

Labor Shortage?
Here in the DC area, Prince William County VA has been getting tougher on illegals. So the local news station aired a story about how much this is increasing the costs of law enforcement. They neglected to mention how 20% of the people in PWC’s jails are illegals.
The other day, I heard National Public Radio air a story on how the illegal crackdown is creating a labor shortage in the DC area.
Umm...no. It is creating a cheap labor shortage. I’m quite sure you will find plenty of Americans to do these jobs that they supposedly don’t want to do if you PAID THEM ENOUGH!

Islam awaits Reformation
Eventually our forebears realized that as finite beings we cannot presume to speak or act on behalf of the Almighty. Indeed, we came to understand that to do so is blasphemy. Thus we removed the ability of those in positions of authority to impose the interpretation of Divine Will upon others using the coercive power of the State.
But that’s the thing; there has been no similar Reformation of Islam. They kill and maim in the name of God. They proclaim what is essentially an expansionist political ideology to be sanctioned by God and those who oppose them are by definition opposing God.

Chavez and FARC
The documents that the Colombian military found that link Ecuador’s government and the FARC were too embarrasing. And Chavez has long been openly calling for the drug cartel to forcibly take over Colombia. Both countries have been openly harboring these terrorists/kidnappers/drug-runners for years.
The Colombian ejercito should be able to handle this, but we should provide support as is prudent and needed. It truly is a tragedy how Castroism is spreading in South America.

Waterboarding Posturing
Brow-beating me for the benefit of the cameras is good for sound-bites and may make it seem like you’re doing something about this, but in fact you are deflecting attention from your own responsibility.
It is inappropriate for a nominee for an appointed position to in effect issue a ruling on this. If this is so important to you, have a debate, gather evidence, draft some legislation and submit it to the President.
YOU are the ones who can make this illegal, not me. So grow a freaking pair and do your job. Otherwise, stuff it.

Mis-Placed Compassion
Pregnant women should not be incentivized to risk their lives crossing treacherous terrain to give birth to an anchor baby. Workers from Mexico should not be drawn to pay Mexican ‘coyotes’ only to be exploited by unscrupulous American employers.
And the people of Mexico should not be condemned to live with an intractably corrupt government and limping economy because we continue to relieve the pressure.

Not a Love Child?
apparently the baby was an unintended consequence. Given the publicity, there is no way the baby is not going to find out about all of this eventually, in lurid detail. The poor thing cannot even be considered a ‘love-child.’
Now THAT’s a recipe for a well-adjusted life.

Religious (In)tolerance
As has already been the case with other religions, under Jewish control, it is possible to practice one’s religion freely in Israel. That certainly was not the case when Muslims were in charge.
And BTW, the Bahai had to leave their native Iran because of persecution under the mullahs. That is where stories came from of virgins being raped before being executed for being Bahai — because it is not proper to execute a virgin.

Child Informants?
The basic motivation here is to destroy the family and replace it with the State. In Mao’s China, children were also encouraged to inform on any parents suspected of being “Capitalist Roaders.” Such was the nature of their Cultural Revolution.
This technique is very effective in its aim. As with the Chinese Communist Party of the 1970s, the Massachusetts state government is infested with Utopians who hold that ordinary parents cannot be trusted to raise children as well as institutions designed by the Illuminati.

Talks with Iran
...The Mullahs love such talks. They have ruled in their Islamic courts that lying to the Infidel is not only permitted, but a duty if it is deemed to serve their Cause. This in effect means that their word is worth nothing. Thus, we have a version of unilateral negotiations that are all too familiar with the Islamists, the Chinese and the North Koreans....

N Korea Nuking Scenario
...An appeasing Democrat is President. Kim or one of his successors nukes an ally or even an American city. The omniscient Illuminati of Western society [the entertainment industry] will howl that we must not precipitate a nuclear holocaust over a few unfortunate broken eggs that were, after all, lobbed because of our discriminatory policies toward an equally valid alternate lifestyle -- one-party dictatorship...

Religion vs Science
...The debates that have arisen here and elsewhere that assume that there is a natural conflict between science/ religion, faith/knowledge are pointless. Those who have made their life’s work to study the physical world and to discover the laws that govern typically express awe at the magnificence of the universe and a conviction that the more we find out, the more we learn how little we know of the Greater Whole... ...we are not equipped to have more than a small hint of the Big Picture and must therefore trust that there is something larger than us running the show.

Limits on Teachers, Not Kids
...It's not that children are getting worse -- they are just not being given any limits while the limits imposed upon the adults who must manage them grow ever tighter. Recall in that video that the vice-principal was not allowed to restrain her, only block the punches and say "no, stop that."

At least when I drove a cab I was allowed to fight back -- and did upon occassion. No one in their right mind would consider becoming a school teacher today....

Who is Pro-War? Not Me!
...the only people who are for 'the war' are those who are perpetuating bloodshed in order to install another terrorist-friendly dictatorship to replace the previous one.

The coalition -- from the troops to the commanders to the civilian l eadership -- are NOT pro-war. Neither are the vast majority of the Iraqi people. They are doing their damndest to end the violence so that we can bring our troops home, give the Iraqis back their country and concentrate our resources upon rebuilding and fostering democracy...

Iran: Pre-emptive Strike Risks
...The only hope in turning back this threat lies in the Iranian people themselves.

Therefore, concerted effort must be taken to counter-revolutionize Iran on the diplomatic/economic fronts. Any and all avenues must be pursued in encouraging the Iranian people to continue to resist their masters. If opportunities for facilitating a counter-insurgency, they must be taken as well...

Capitalism vs. Socialism
...Given that people vary in terms of discipline, intelligence, opportunity , etc., the only way to eliminate or reduce 'disparities' is to eliminate wealth. Poverty can be shared, wealth cannot. It IS possible to construct a society wherein people are equally poor. It is NOT possible to have one with everyone equally rich...

Iraq Coalition Shrinking
...You have to read the story further down to understand that the force reduction is consequent to Iraqis increasingly assuming roles once performed by foreign forces. But the first impression is that the allies are precipitously abandoning the Iraqis.

Leave it to the MSM to try and portray clear evidence that the original objective [remove Saddam, foster democracy, rebuild, pacify] is being met as something negative.

The headline should read: 'Allied Forces Come Home as Iraqis Phase In'...

More Outrage over Cartoons
... European embassies burn throughout a region wherein religion, government and the press are a unified whole that is not subject to a popular mandate. Such behavior is making cartoons that once appeared silly and exaggerated to now seem to be gross understatements of the true nature of a political-theological mindset that cannot abide a syllable of dissent without wanton destruction and bloodshed.

While many in the West apologize for suicide bombers and say that 'one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter,' those who have no doubts as to their side's superiority are calling for no such compromise or understanding.

They see surrendering our freedom in the face of violence as signs of weakness. Thus it will engender more...

Socialism Offers Hope?
Government ownership of the means of production [which ultimately is each and every human being -- i.e. slavery] offers no hope to anyone, except the would-be masters. It certainly does not alleviate poverty. The most it can do is reduce or eliminate wealth, not create it. Such is the nature of the egalitarianism socialists advocate.

Wealth can only grow in freedom...

Global Warming Motivations
...there is some question as to the amount of human influence here. The fact is, the Earth has experienced radical climate changes long before Lucy trod in Olduvai. But there is a significant cadre who hold that homo sapiens is the greatest vermin on the planet -- and that the free market is our Greatest Sin...

US Troop Reduction=Islam Victory?
This can be seen as a desperate man trying to make victory from what is at best stalemate. His 'forces' still hold no territory and has only succeeded in continuing bloodshed via sneak attacks upon civilians Iraqi officials and Coalition forces.

It can also be seen as an indication of how withdrawing before the bloodshed is stopped will be seen in the region. Leaving the violent elements intact [who are determined to thwart peacefully chosen representative government in favor of another forcibly installed terrorist-friendly regime to replace the previous one] will be viewed by friend and foe alike as weakness to be exploited further.

Honor Killings: Implications
"...A labourer slit throats of his four daughters in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province when his eldest daughter married of her own choice..." Patriarchal societies are not good for the males either, because half of the population's potential is stifled. In studies I have seen on this subject, there is a strong correlation between economic, social and political development and the empowerment of women. Those that tend to treat women like livestock tend to be the most backward.

All cultures are not equally valid. Some practices are universally abhorrent and should be abolished for the sake of all.

Germany Releases Murderer
...the German government considered then and now our means of punisment for such an offender to be REVENGE and medieval, so they decided that their courts and punishments were more 'civilized' than ours, even though they had no business trying someone for a crime that was not committed on German soil and was perpetrated upon an American.

What I cannot forgive is that if given the chance, they unabashedly would do the same. Given that fact, we must not rule out seizing those who harm us wherever they are if there is chance that they will be denied justice in the hands of our putative allies.

Iran: Crackdown and Belligerance
...Ever the dog of the mullahs, he is leading an internal social/political crackdown, harkening back to a time before the majority of the young population was born. For their part, Iran's polity has been resisting the oppression openly and furtively. As has been the case with other unpopular dictatorships, the government is hoping to divert internal attention by provoking a military conflict from the outside -- preferably with Israel and/or the US.

Abortion & the Goddess
...Unfortunately in the US, the issue was settled by a majority decision in a Court 9 people [not subject to a popular mandate] with the idea that the debate will be closed. That is wrong. For my part, I am against abortion. It is not a religious issue to me, just as with euthanasia, it is a matter of human rights.

I think until there is a consensus on abortion, it should be legal in places where the majority of the people think that it should be legal and illegal in places where the community thinks that it should be illegal.

Right of Return for New Orleans?
...They want to have the local government that actually let them down preserved and subsidized by everyone else in the country. Furthermore, they want the victim mentality that made them more vulnerable to be kept intact also. Under no circumstances do they want to consider reviewing their own responsibilities in how their reaction may have made a difficult challenge from Nature into a hideous, embarrasing display of stupidity and self-indulgence.

Unthanksgiving Day
...When we wring our hands about how terrible it was what the Europeans did to the Amerindians, we must remember what their mindset was in those days. They saw their tech advantage as proof of being Divinely Chosen to supplant all others and 'save' them from their 'obvious' backwardness...the natives were happily killing, raping and ethnically cleansing each other to the utmost of their technological capability before the White Devil showed up. They absolutely would have done the same to us in spades if the shoe were on the other foot.

Minimum Wage Implications
...The fatal flaw with these static analyses is the assumption that people are not going to change their behavior in response to any government intervention into the economy. As others have already pointed out, artificially raising wages that the market has determined is not worth the government set wage and you have inflation. Another fundamental aspect of an artificial price floor is that the commodity then is in surplus. Thus, those whose wages are only worth $4.00/hr are laid off/never hired in favor of those whose time is worth the minimum wage.


*


Looking for work? Visit HotJobs.com
Click Here For The Wall Street Journal
CadSymbols - 44M Downloadable CAD Symbols
Free MP3 Player with purchase of computer brief!
Get a FREE Apple iPod Photo
Merchant Accounts and Credit Card Processing
Get your FREE $250 Cash Card

Free T-Mobile Flip Phone
Click to save on quality supplements!
40% off Dining Certificates
Diane Von Furstenberg HiLo 126x126


Clearance Sale

123Inkjets - Printer Ink, Toner & More!



Extended Sizes For Men at Hottopic.com

vertical1
golfoutletsusa.com

Magmall.com
FREE Shipping on Truck & SUV Accessories!



Sign up for PayPal and start accepting credit card payments instantly.


ANTI-SPAM/VIRUS/HACKER INFORMATION

COMPLAINTS

Boilerplate:
©Authors reserve all applicable copyrights to material posted herein.
Passages not authored by us will be attributed in accordance with 'Fair Use'
* provisions of U.S. copyright laws [as well as scholarly ethics].
 Passages authored by us may be quoted only if proper attribution is given
.


Common Sense Webring
Common Sense Webring
[ Join Now | Ring Hub | Random | << Prev | Next >> ]
guest, this site is a member of the WebRing
United States Censorship, by Charles Alexander Moffat of the Lilith Gallery
The Anti-Censorship Ring
<< Prev . List . Forum . Next >>

"Censorship is a disease that politicians
use to destroy their enemies." -JFK.

View a complete list of WebRing memberships here
This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here.

This website was designed and constructed using Netscape Composer, included as part of Netscape Navigator.  It's free.

Netscape Now

"Netscape Composer is an easy-to-use tool that makes creating HTML-based documents as easy as writing a memo with a word processor. HTML, or Hypertext Markup Language, describes how words and images should be displayed on a web page or in an email message. Like a word processor, Composer uses fonts, styles, paragraphs, and lists, and includes an integrated spelling checker."